Contents:

Welcome
Upcoming Events
What's New
GrandMaster Updates

NOTE: This archive references other sites on the World Wide Web. From time to time, an article's link may be moved or deleted from the host site. If you encounter an out-of-date link, please e-mail the thepayrollnews@canpay.com.

Welcome!

June 2003 - Welcome to the latest edition of The Payroll News. As always, please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and associates who are interested in keeping up with the latest changes in the Payroll industry. Or better yet, subscribe them for free using the Tell Someone About Us link.

Upcoming Events

Listed here are recent changes in legislation on Federal and Provincial levels that may impact your payroll calculations. Please view the following list for changes that affect your region.

FEDERAL:

May, 2003 - New E.I Benefit Announced - The Government of Canada announced a new type of EI benefits, called the Compassionate Care Benefits that should be available for January 4, 2004. (Full Story - 1144 Words)

May 2, 2003 - Government of Canada provides income relief to SARS affected health care workers - The Honourable Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), today announced that $2 million will be available to help workers who deliver or help deliver health-related services, who are not eligible for Employment Insurance (EI), but who suffered a loss of employment income because of being quarantined, isolated or contracting SARS. (Full Story - 625 Words)

April 30, 2003 - Employment Insurance Program Responsive to Needs of Canadians - HRDC Minister Jane Stewart today released the 2002 Employment Insurance (EI) Monitoring and Assessment Report, prepared by the EI Commission, which shows that the EI Program was there when Canadians needed it - particularly following economic uncertainty caused by the events of September 11, 2001. This report covers fiscal year 2001/02. (Full Story - 1736 Words)

Alberta:

May 20 , 2003 - Alberta sets record low workplace injury rate - The 2002 Alberta workplace injury rate of 3.0 serious injuries per 100 full time jobs was the lowest since the current system of measurement in Alberta was established in 1991. "I am pleased that we are making progress on reducing our workplace injury rate, especially since we have a rapidly growing workforce," said Alberta Human Resources and Employment Minister Clint Dunford. "This is a good start towards our goal of a 40 per cent reduction in workplace injuries by the end of 2004.". (Full Story - 361 Words)

British Columbia:

May 8, 2003 - Government of Canada funds over $2 million to help unemployed prepare for and find technology jobs - As part of the Government of Canada's Skills and Learning Agenda, the Honourable Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development Canada, today announced funding of $2,054,633 for the first year of a three-year agreement for Future Works Training Inc. of Vancouver. Future Works Training Inc. connects job seekers with employers in British Columbia's growing science and high-tech community. (Full Story - 907 Words)

May 6, 2003 - WCB reports operating deficiency in 2002, remains well funded - Facing a significant decline in investment income occasioned by a downturn in world financial markets, plus actuarial adjustments to recognize the changing structure of claims liabilities, the Workers’ Compensation Board announced an overall operating deficiency of $571 million in 2002. (Full Story - 833 Words)

May 5, 2003 - WCB Changes Benefit Survivors - All surviving partners of workers who die from workplace injuries will receive lifetime survivor benefits under legislation introduced today by Labour Minister Graham Bruce. This legislation also recognizes the difficulty older individuals may have in entering the workforce after the unexpected death of a partner. (Full Story - 396 Words)

May 5, 2003 - Employment Standards Made Clearer, Red Tape Cut - The latest changes to the Employment Standards Act further reduce unnecessary regulation and make employment standards more understandable and effective, Skills Development and Labour Minister Graham Bruce said today. The changes introduced today implement new rules for employment of children under 15 and specifically prohibit employers from using earnings from one pay period to top up another pay period where the employee does not earn minimum wage. (Full Story - 409 Words)

New Brunswick:

April 4, 2003 - NBFL Withdraw Members From WHSCC Board of Directors - Today two New Brunswick Federation of Labour (NBFL) nominees to the Board of Directors of the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission (WHSCC) withdrew from the Board as a result of an NBFL motion. The Commission's Board of Directors is made up of nine voting members, including four employers' representatives, four workers' representatives, and a member representing the general public. The Board is responsible for making regular recommendations to government relating to the Acts it administers. (Full Story - 304 Words)

Newfoundland and Labrador:

May 14, 2003 - Commission urges all stakeholders to stay the course as it releases 2002 annual report - The Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission is urging employers, workers and health care providers to stay the course as it releases its 2002 annual report – the best report the Commission has seen in years. The report presents the financial statements and key performance indicators from the Commission’s Strategic Plan for the year ending December 2002. (Full Story - 510 Words)

May 9, 2003 - April sees stability in employment numbers - Employment in Newfoundland and Labrador remained relatively stable in April with records set in employment, the participation rate and labour force size, according to the latest Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada. This reinforces the positive trends which started at the beginning of 2001. Employment averaged 205,100 in April, compared to 204,700 in April of last year. (Full Story - 263 Words)

Northwest Territories:

May 23, 2003 - New Board Members Appointed for WCB - Minister Responsible for the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) in the Northwest Territories Joseph Handley has appointed two new members to the organization’s Board of Directors. The Workers Compensation Board serves both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. (Full Story - 257 Words)

Prince Edward Island:

May 22, 2003 - WCB Releases Annual Report - The annual report for 2002 discusses the Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Division's continued efforts toward accident prevention and the promotion of “safety principles” in the workplace. The report also includes a list of accomplishments that illustrate on-going commitment to success in both of these areas. (Full Story - 46 Pages)

Ontario:

May 14, 2003 - Eves Shows Tax Cuts Create Jobs And A Strong Economy - The Eves government has cut taxes -- including personal income taxes and payroll taxes -- 208 times and in every Budget since June 1995 and has announced an additional 17 tax cuts in the 2003 Budget. This sound economic plan of prudent fiscal management and tax cuts have strengthened the economy, boosted consumer spending and created jobs in Ontario. (Full Story - 308 Words)

May 9, 2003 - Eves announces tax incentive zone covering all of Northern Ontario - Ernie Eves, Ontario's Premier, today announced that the province's first and largest tax incentive zone will encompass all of northern Ontario. Today's announcement means that eligible businesses locating in northern Ontario would not be required to pay provincial business education tax, capital tax or employer health tax. Additional pilot tax incentive zones will be established in southern Ontario. (Full Story - 275 Words)

Saskatchewan:

May 15, 2003 - WorkSafe Saskatchewan Hits Airwaves - The WCB and Saskatchewan Labour are launching a print and radio campaign to raise awareness about safety and injury-prevention programs in the workplace, under the brand name WorkSafe Saskatchewan, this weekend. The awareness campaign was triggered by a rising injury rate and resulting increased claim costs, both of which contributed to the WCB's 2002 operating deficit. It also supports a WCB operational objective to reduce the injury rate to 4% by the end of 2007. (Full Story - 340 Words)

May 22, 2003 - WCB Annual Meeting Results - The Saskatchewan WCB was the first in Canada to hold annual public meetings starting in 1995. Now a legislated event (section 22.2 of the Workers’ Compensation General Regulations), it supports the organization’s dedication to openness and accountability by providing an overview of the WCB’s operations. Stakeholders are briefed on the WCB’s operational and financial situation, as well as its strategic and capital plans, and program and policy changes. (Full Story - 200 Words)

Yukon:

May 29, 2003 - Yukon Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board Narrows Focus on Customer Service Project - As part of a narrowed focus of a comprehensive customer service project, the YWCHSB will continue work on a new case management system to improve its ability to administer benefits and provide rehabilitation services to injured workers. The Board has approved $275,000 for the next stage of this project. At that point, the YWCHSB will have enough information to decide if it can buy or needs to build software. (Full Story - 514 Words)

May 7, 2003 - Workers’ Compensation Act Moves Forward - A three-person panel is looking for input from Yukoners as it moves ahead with its job of reviewing the Workers' Compensation Act and presenting options for change. MLA Patrick Rouble said. "For this to happen, we need to hear from employers, injured workers and other interested Yukoners about which parts of the Act pose problems for them. They will have ample opportunity to comment throughout the various phases of the review process.". (Full Story - 383 Words)

The current release of GrandMaster Suite (3.70.07) incorporates a number of changes to make it even easier to use the program and perform your payroll tasks. Recent program changes since our last Payroll News issue include:

• WCB calculation adjusted in new version - The WCB benefit calculation was incorrectly adjusted in version 3.70.06. This calculation has been corrected and now works correctly as it did in prior releases.
• Taxable benefit amounts are included in WCB and Provincial Health calculations - Any taxable benefits you may have set to be included in your WCB or Provincial Health benefit calculations were not being considered. Further, if you had employees with time spread over several provinces the taxable benefits were not being proportionally included to determine the WCB and Provincial Health benefits. This problem has been corrected with this release.
• File box is now active in Transaction Report dialog box - When you selected the Export Only option in the Transaction Report dialog box's Output tab, the File box remained disabled. This would not allow you enter the name of the file to be exported. This has been corrected so that the file box becomes enabled whenever you choose a file-related option.
• End of Employee List message added to View E.I. History Dialog Box - When you were viewing the data for the last employee in the list in the View E.I. History dialog box, choosing the Next Employee button would not display a message stating that there were no more employees in the list. Now when you reach the last employee and click this button, a message will appear stating "You have reached the last employee in the list.". The same issue has been addressed if you are viewing the first employee and choose the Previous Employee button.

Stay tuned to CanPay's Product News page to receive the latest changes and release information for all GrandMaster products!

In our rapidly changing marketplace, it's no longer surprising to see well-established businesses laying off staff, cutting services and in some cases, folding completely, seemingly unable to keep up with a variety of competitive factors. Internet sales taking away increasingly larger numbers of customers who previously "came through the doors," manufacturers selling directly to consumers eliminating retail storefront operations are part of this new selling environment. And yet, new competitors open up next door with regularity. How will they all survive?

A few will try to compete only on price. This is a pretty risky strategy when the "big names" have such volume-buying power. It is also not the best place to be. There are almost no long-term success stories for price discounters. The successful low-price businesses still operate with some positive margins depending on volume to take up the slack. Simply cutting the price is just bad business - when have you ever heard of a "Going out of business price increase?" If you are competing with a price cutter, then you are competing with the stupidest person in town or the fattest person (the one with the most money to lose), or even worse, the stupidest and fattest person. Not a great group to be in. Sell value, not price and you will probably still be here next year.

The second area of competition will be the attempt to attract customers with your "We have superior quality" argument. This only works until someone comes along and says their quality is better - please note it does not matter if either one is better - all that matters is the one who can sell it best! No one advertises bad quality. How would a buyer ever know until after the fact and, if it's not "that bad," they may stay with the lower quality product or service. (This only annoys those of you with good quality products and service).

A third group will talk about their supposedly superior service only to find they can't even live up to their own hype. Without effectively trained staff and support systems really dedicated to the "Service 1st'™ philosophy, such promises are short-lived. Please don't make service commitments you cannot fulfill. Customers have long memories about being misled. Successful businesses show genuine concern and appreciation for their clients and realize that the initial sale is the start of the relationship, not the conclusion. If a sale is really closed, how do we continue the relationship?

Recent experiences suggest finding the "We value you as a customer" provider is increasingly difficult. With a shortage of qualified applicants and a move to phase-out experienced (i.e. higher paid) workers, the main criteria for a front-line position is a vertical warm body. If even 10 per cent of the stories my grown children and their friends relate to me about their treatment as employees while working in some well-known chain restaurants are true, then direct descendants of Attila the Hun must be in charge. Turnover rates are incredible as staff work in almost slave-like conditions with minimum training, scheduling confusion and low pay.

We need to be very careful about blaming front-line employees who receive little or no preparation for the task other than an overview of the electronic equipment required to process a transaction. How much direction do they get regarding customer satisfaction and more importantly, building customer loyalty? These workers are subject to immediate dismissal at the first customer complaint regardless of circumstances and so learn to be "busy" to avoid all client contact. The next time you see a vacant store at your local mall, or you call your printer or insurance agent only to find they are out of business, think about your last experience with them. Many times their disappearance should not come as a surprise. So, where will your business be a year from now?

Whether or not your organization has recently undergone restructuring and change, your staff is aware of the current economic conditions and may be more susceptible to the messages spread by the "doom and gloom" gang. The negative effects on job performance can bring your worst fears to reality. Now is the time for spirited leadership and encouragement hand-in-hand with a specific development strategy for long-term positive results. Successful people look at their environment and develop an action plan to handle it. Unsuccessful people allow their environment to control their actions.

Delegation with preparation and a strong leadership model to follow may be your best investment in building the business you, your staff and your clients deserve. If you want your staff to be enthusiastic, you must be inspiring in your leadership role. If you aren't having any fun, neither are they! While none of us is in complete control of what happens in our lives, we do control how we choose to respond to those circumstances. Many businesses will grow and thrive over the next year and beyond - will I see you in that group?

Kit Grant works with organizations to increase profits through changing their customer service and sales delivery processes. He spoke at the Canadian Payroll Association Convention in Calgary in July, 2002.

Article Courtesy of the Canadian Payroll Association